事實類苑

Shì shí lèi yuàn 事實類苑

Garden of Categorized Facts

by 江少虞 (Jiāng Shàoyú, fl. Shàoxīng), Sòng Zuǒ cháoqǐng dàfū, quán fāqiǎn Jízhōu jūnzhōu shì.

About the work

A 63-juàn Sòng lèishū devoted specifically to Northern-Sòng cháozhāng guódiǎn (court statutes and state institutions). Compiled by 江少虞 (Jiāng Shàoyú) and completed in Shàoxīng 15 (1145). The work organizes the scattered records of Sòng-era institutional history found across various bǐjì and unofficial records into 24 categories (the self-preface claims 28 categories, evidently a copying error). The categories include: Zǔzōng shèngxùn (sage-teachings of the ancestors); Jūnchén zhīyù (lord-and-minister mutual recognition); Míngchén shìjī (famous-ministers’ affairs); Déliàng zhìshí (virtuous-magnanimity and wisdom); Gùwèn zòuduì (consultative responses); Zhōngyán dǎnglùn (loyal speech and frank discussion); Diǎnlǐ yīnlǜ (rites and music); Guānzhèng zhìjì (officialdom and administrative achievements); Yīguān shèngshì (capping-gown grand events); Guānzhí yízhì (official ranks and ceremonial systems); Cíhàn shūjí (literary writings and books); Diǎngù yángé (institutional changes); Shīfù gēyǒng (poems and songs); Wénzhāng sìliù (prose and parallel-prose); Kuàngdá yǐnyì (broad-minded recluses); Xiānshì sēngdào (Buddhists and Daoists); Xiūxiáng mèngzhào (auspicious portents and dreams); Zhànxiàng yīyào (divination and medicine); Shūhuà jìyì (calligraphy, painting, and crafts); Zhōngxiào jiéyì (loyalty, filial piety, integrity); Jiāngxiàng cáiluè (general and minister capabilities); Zhīrén jiànjǔ (knowing men and recommendations); Guǎngzhī bóshí (broad knowledge); Fēngsú zázhì (customs and miscellany). The cited works total 60-some, with the source-title noted under each entry; entries are quoted in full without abridgment. The compilation took 14 years. Wáng Shìzhēn’s Jūyì lù praised the work as “the most comprehensive of Sòng-men’s shuōbù (notebook genre), and useful for history.” It preserves much from now-lost works: Guócháo shìshǐ, Sāncháo shèngzhèng lù, Sāncháo xùnjiàn, Péngshān zhì, Zhōngyán dǎnglùn, Yuánfēng shèngxùn, Fù Shānggōng jiāhuà, Liǎngcháo bǎoxùn, Xīníng zòuduì, Liú Zhēnzhī shīhuà, Lǐ xuéshì cóngtán. Wáng Shìzhēn records the book as 40 juàn; the present copy is 63 juàn.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Shì shí lèi yuàn in 63 juàn was compiled by Jiāng Shàoyú of the Sòng. Shàoyú’s zì and home are not detailed; the head of the preface self-identifies as Zuǒ cháoqǐng dàfū, quán fāqiǎn Jízhōu jūnzhōu shì. The Jiāngxī tōngzhì also does not record his career. So his career-record cannot be investigated further.

The book was completed in Shàoxīng 15 (1145). Because Sòng-era court statutes and state institutions are found in many men’s records but scattered and out of order, hard to consult and check — he therefore selected, classified, and ordered them. He divided them into: Zǔzōng shèngxùn, Jūnchén zhīyù, Míngchén shìjī, Déliàng zhìshí, Gùwèn zòuduì, Zhōngyán dǎnglùn, Diǎnlǐ yīnlǜ, Guānzhèng zhìjì, Yīguān shèngshì, Guānzhí yízhì, Cíhàn shūjí, Diǎngù yángé, Shīfù gēyǒng, Wénzhāng sìliù, Kuàngdá yǐnyì, Xiānshì sēngdào, Xiūxiáng mèngzhào, Zhànxiàng yīyào, Shūhuà jìyì, Zhōngxiào jiéyì, Jiāngxiàng cáiluè, Zhīrén jiànjǔ, Guǎngzhī bóshí, Fēngsú zázhì — 24 sections in all; the self-preface gives 28 sections — apparently a transmission error.

The works he cites are arranged by category; the full text of the original is recorded without addition or deletion, with the book-name noted under each entry. Total: 60-some works. He used 14 years to complete it, so his collection is extremely broad. As for his miscellaneous gathering, sometimes one event appears in two books and both are kept; and matters like Biān Hào called Biān Héshàng (Biān the monk) and the Táng-men’s poem-lines selected by various shīhuà — these are unrelated to Sòng-dynasty matters but are recorded indiscriminately. It is not free from the fault of overflow.

But the lost texts and gone affairs of one BěiSòng generation are roughly all here; really useful for argument. Wáng Shìzhēn’s Jūyì lù called it “the most comprehensive of Sòng-men’s shuōbù, useful for history” — no idle words. Among the works it cites — the Guócháo shìshǐ, Sāncháo shèngzhèng lù, Sāncháo xùnjiàn, Péngshān zhì, Zhōngyán dǎnglùn, Yuánfēng shèngxùn, Fù Shānggōng jiāhuà, Liǎngcháo bǎoxùn, Xīníng zòuduì, Liú Zhēnzhī shīhuà, Lǐ xuéshì cóngtán — all have long been lost and not transmitted; through this book one can investigate one or two. This is especially the omnibus of shuōjiā.

Wáng Shìzhēn also records this book in 40 juàn; the present text is in 63 juàn.

Abstract

The Shì shí lèi yuàn is the principal Sòng-era topical compilation devoted specifically to Northern-Sòng court institutional and administrative history. 江少虞 (Jiāng Shàoyú), serving as Prefect of Jízhōu, compiled the work over fourteen years from over sixty sources, completing it in 1145.

The book’s principal contributions:

1. Source for Northern-Sòng institutional history. The book preserves substantial extracts from now-lost works on Sòng court statutes, administrative procedure, and elite anecdote — making it one of the most important Sòng lèishū for institutional history.
2. 24 topical sections. The arrangement by category gives the work the structure of a topical handbook to Northern-Sòng government, with sections covering sage-teachings, lord-minister relations, ministerial affairs, virtue, consultative responses, loyal remonstrance, ritual and music, administration, ceremonial, literature, institutional change, poetry, prose, recluses, religion, portents, divination and medicine, calligraphy and painting, loyalty and integrity, military and ministerial talent, recommendations, broad knowledge, and customs.
3. Preservation of lost works. Cited works including the Guócháo shìshǐ, Sāncháo shèngzhèng lù, Péngshān zhì, Yuánfēng shèngxùn, and various shīhuà and cóngtán survive nowhere else.
4. Method. Jiāng’s practice of citing the source-title under each entry and recording the original wording verbatim makes the work scholarly reliable — Wáng Shìzhēn’s praise as “useful for history” is justified.

Dating. Preface 1145. Composition took 14 years (1131–1145). NotBefore 1131, notAfter 1145.

Recensional note. Wáng Shìzhēn records the book as 40 juàn; the WYG copy is 63 juàn. The discrepancy is unresolved; the WYG appears to be a more complete recension.

Translations and research

No substantial Western-language treatment located. The work is cited extensively in modern Chinese institutional history of the Northern Sòng. See Charles Hartman, The Making of a Confucian Hero (Yale, 2006) and related Northern-Sòng scholarship for use of this and parallel lèi-shū.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 5, Shì shí lèi yuàn entry.